Down by the Lake
by Scribomaniac
Summary: What started off as a lazy day for a pair of sixth years quickly turns into one of the worst days of their lives.
On a mid-October day, the students of Hogwarts could be found lounging out and about on the school grounds. The past few weeks had been horrible for them due to the rainy weather that had plagued the castle. It was, in fact, the first day since September that the sun had finally stepped out from the blanket of clouds, and even though the air was still bitterly cold, the students stubbornly grabbed their books, quills, and sheets of parchments, settled onto the still damp grass and completed their homework under the blessed heat of the sun. Or, at least, that was the plan for most. For others, they quickly discarded their assignments in favor of savoring the good weather and simply lounging about with their friends.

Two students in particular, a boy and a girl, who had long given up completing their homework, sat together down by the lake and idly watched the giant squid's tentacles lift above and below the water's surface. The girl, with the bottom half of her face covered by a bright red and gold colored scarf, looked down with tender eyes at the boy whose head rested comfortably in her lap. Her fingers twisted and wrapped themselves around his dark curly locks; gently tugging on the roots every few seconds. The boy smiled every time he felt the pull. His expression was one of utter peace and content. His lips were parted slightly and his eyes were closed. If she didn't know any better, the girl would assume he fell asleep.

Moving one hand away from his hair, she reached down and smoothed out a crinkle in his green and silver scarf. Looking back towards his face, she saw that his eyes were now open. "Rey," he pouted. "Why'd you stop?"

Smiling devilishly, Rey took the hand that was still in his hair and gave another tug. His eyes rolled up inside his head before his lids flickered closed. He let out a deep groan as his back arched a bit. "I didn't realize how cat-like you'd become, Ben." He mumbled something incoherent and Rey returned to her motion of combing through his hair. Looking over to the right of them, Rey saw some Slytherins. Brows furrowing, she looked back down to her boyfriend's face and after a courage filling breath, asked, "Or should I call you Kylo Ren now?"

Eyes snapping open, Ben looked up into Rey's eyes as he hissed, "What?"

Quirking an eyebrow, Rey repeated, "Kylo Ren. It's what they're calling you now, isn't it?"

Ben's mouth set into a thin line. His brows furrowed and his cheeks and ears turned red with a mixture of embarrassment and anger. "And who are ' _they_ '?"

Scrunching up her nose, Rey turned her head to look back at the Slytherins nearby, "Your new _friends_ —Hux and Phasma." Pausing, Rey wasn't sure if she wanted to say what was plaguing her thoughts, but seeing Hux's wolf-like grin as he hexed students across the lake from them, and Phasma's superior grin and upturned nose as she watched, Rey continued, "I don't even know why you hang out with them."

"Rey," Ben said roughly, sitting up so he could better look at her, "they're not as bad as they seem. And Kylo Ren? It's just—just a nickname." He smiled, trying to reassure her.

Rolling her eyes and huffing loudly, she crossed her arms over her chest, "I doubt that! Look now, he's hexing some poor first years!"

Ben barely glanced over to confirm Rey's accusation before sighing and leaning back down to rest his head in Rey's lap. "I don't know why you're so bothered. They're just Hufflepuffs."

" _Just_ Hufflepuffs? Like your uncle, the _headmaster_ , is just a Hufflepuff?"

Rolling his eyes, Ben turned his head away so he could better look at the water and avoid Rey's piecing gaze. "Luke's a terrible headmaster—all the teachers say so."

"By all do you mean Professor Snoke? Ugh, Ben, he gives me the creeps! He always talks as if he knows something we don't."

"Well he is the Divination professor. Seeing into the future is sort of in his job description." Ben told her with a wry grin twisting his lips.

"Shut up," Rey flicked his nose with her pointer finger and thumb. "You're just defending him because you're his favorite pupil."

"And you're not defending Luke for the same reason?" He countered, his brows raising so high they almost disappeared into his hair line.

Cheeks turning red, Rey looked away back towards Hux and Phasma. Hux had a young boy hanging upside down above the lake and kept jerking his wand up and down so the student would keep almost falling into the cold, dark waters. "Oh, that's it!" Pushing Ben's head off her lap a bit roughly, Rey reached into her robe for her wand and began to charge the pair of Slytherins. Before she could even take three steps, however, Ben grabbed her around the waist and swung her around so she faced the opposite direction. "What are you doing?" She growled out, turning on her heel to face him. She went toe to toe with him, her irregularly breathing lungs heaving her chest up and against his.

"Saving you from starting an inter-house war! Rey, look around!" He begged, cupping her face in his hands and pressing his forehead against hers. "The grounds are crawling with Slytherins and Gryffindors! If you attack Hux now—especially with magic—the Slytherins will come to his defense and then the Gryffindors will come to yours! It will start an all out brawl. People will get hurt. _You_ could get hurt. Rey, _please_ ," his dark eyes searched hers as he pleaded with her to rethink her plan. Rey's breathing slowed as her anger left her. Biting her lip, Rey looked down to the ground and began to rethink her plan. "Besides," Ben continued, kissing her temple in relief after seeing the fight seep from her body, "The kid's just a muggle born."

Pulling away from him like she'd been burned, Rey stared with wide open eyes and mouth agape at the boy she thought she knew. "You mean mudblood?"

Straightening to his full height, Ben's quivering lower lip gave away his regret at the statement. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to! That boy's a mudblood just like _me_ —"

"Don't say that!" Ben snarled, his teeth showing with unbridled rage.

"Why not?" Rey asked, pushing at Ben's chest. "It's what I am!"

"We don't _know_ that!" He grabbed her wrists, stopping her assault.

"And that makes it okay?" She stretched onto her tip toes now so her nose brushed threateningly against his. "That makes me exempt from the rule, does it?" She began to struggle again, but he wouldn't release her wrists, "Poor orphan girl, Rey, right? Doesn't know if she came from a wizarding family or not, right?" Growing frustrated with his tight hold, Rey reared her head back and slammed it straight ahead, hitting the target that was Ben's nose. Screaming out, Ben clutched at his now bleeding nose, bending over from pain. "And what would you do, huh, Ben?" She practically screamed while rubbing the throbbing bump on her forehead. She knew they were drawing stares—Hux had even stopped his bullying to watch their fight unfold with disturbing glee—but she didn't care. She needed to know. "If we did know. What would you do if we found out r _ight now_ that I was, in fact, a mudblood?"

Ben growled with frustration as he stood up straight and held his nose in one hand in an attempt to staunch the blood. His other hand was wrapped firmly around his wand, and although he wasn't directing it at Rey, angry red spark flickered from its tip like a flint before flame. "I don't know!" He yelled out, his wand hand twitching, causing the wand itself to produce larger sparks that burned at the wet grass below their feet. His deep voice resonated throughout the grounds and gathering even more attention from their peers. Ben's cry was met with a deafening silence and what he said registered in his mind. Panting heavily, like he'd run a marathon around the lake, Ben breathed through his mouth as he pinned Rey with a look of utter despair.

"No—Rey—I— " He tried to start again, but couldn't find the words. The skin of his forehead creased as his eyebrows furrowed together and his lips pulled back in a grimace. Twice he opened his mouth and sucked in air, as if he was about to speak, but nothing came out either times. Shaking his head infinitesimally, Ben's eyes clouded over with sorrow and pain. He seemed to be at war with himself. His fists were balled up tightly and his arms pinned down at his sides. His wand continued to shoot pure magic, but instead of red ones, this time they were indigo and dripped out instead of sparked. Ben's throat convulsed repeatedly as he kept swallowing the copious amounts of saliva that flooded his mouth. It made him wonder if he'd vomit. Closing his eyes slowly, he tilted his head down so his chin was tucked against his chest. "I don't," he started, then stopped to look back up at Rey, "I don't know," he repeated, this time in a whisper.

He tried to take a step towards her, but Rey took a step back. Her eyes shined brightly as unshed tears swam in them. Scowling at Ben, she took a threatening step forward and hissed, "I think you do, Ben, and you," she paused, trying to swallow down the hot ball of anger rising in her chest, "You are a coward."

Ben's muscles, so tightly wound just a few seconds before, lost all their tension. His shoulders fell forward and his chest deflated. He felt like Rey had sucker punched him in the gut again, like that time first year when he called her three buns stupid. This was worse, though, he thought, so, so much worse. Reaching out, he tried to smile to her, but he knew it looked wobbly at best. "R—rey," he called out, his voice thick from the hot ball that constricted his larynx. It'd become hard to swallow, so it was hard to talk, "Rey, _please_." He begged again, closing his eyes and wishing that when he opened them he'd be back in his bed and discovering the day had yet to begin. No such luck, though, because he opened them again and Rey was still several feet away from him looking like he was a boggart transformed into her very worst nightmare.

Rey knew there was nothing left for her to say to him, and she didn't want to hear what else he had to say to her. Biting down on her bottom lip and shaking her head once more in resignation, Rey turned and ran back up to the castle. Ben's voice calling out her name rang through her ears, but Rey refused to turn back. She needed to get away from it all. Away from the lake, away from the other students, away from Ben—away from _everything_. Rey could feel the hysteria building in the back of her mind. Not sure how much longer she'd last one the fumes of her anger, Rey ran as fast as she could through the school's entrance, down series of corridors, until she barreled through the door of an empty class room. Slamming the door behind her, Rey slid down to the ground and pressed her forehead against her knees. A rough, shaky sigh escaped her lungs and with it so did her anger, leaving only sadness in its wake. She didn't want to cry—practically refused to—but she couldn't hold back to body wracking dry sobs that plagued her body or the banshee-esque shrieks that escaped from her mouth.

Two soft knocks pierced through Rey's cries after what seemed like forever. Trying to steady her breathing—and failing miserably—Rey hiccuped as she listened for who was on the other side of the door. "Rey?" Finn's gently voice wafted through to her. "Rey, are you okay?"

"Come on, buddy," another voice added. It was Poe. "Let's give her a bit more time, yeah?"

"No, I just—I need to check, all right?" He knocked again. "Rey?"

Rubbing her dripping nose onto the fabric covering her shoulder, she swallowed thickly—her tongue feeling dead in her mouth—and stood up to open the door. Finn's face screamed of relief when he saw her face. True, her eyes were bloodshot from holding in her tears, her buns were falling apart, and the way she held her body radiated pain, but she was standing before him; tall and strong, if not a little battered—much better than sitting on the floor of an empty classroom howling like Peeves on Halloween. Wasting no time, both Poe and Finn pulled Rey into a bone crushing hug. It was so tight, in fact, that Rey was momentarily distracted from the sharp, burning pain she felt in the middle of her chest.

"What do you say we rustle up some food from the kitchens and hide out in the common room for the rest of the day?" Poe suggested as he softly ran his fingers up and down her spine in an attempt to soothe her hiccups.

"Yeah!" Finn quickly grabbed on to that idea, "I bet we can even get some of the house-elves to make some of that treacle fudge that you love."

Sniffling again and giving her friends a watery smile, Rey nodded. "Thank you," she said softly. Finn returned her smile with his tentatively optimistic one and Poe's lopsided grin stretched over his teeth, infectiously causing both Rey's and Finn's smiles to grow as well. As one clumsy and almost awkward unit, the three of them walked back towards the Gryffindor tower. Slowly, the tremors wracking Rey's body lessened and her breathing evened out. Basking in the warmth of Finn and Poe's embrace, she realized how lucky she was to have found such great friends as them. They'd be there to help her through this heartbreak. Rey knew that getting over Ben wouldn't be easy—she may _never_ get over him, no matter how angry she was _with_ him—but the pain would lessen with time, eventually. This she knew for a fact.

 **A/N: Hi all! I hope you enjoyed this fic. I might continue the Hogwarts AU if there's any interest. So if you're interested in reading more of this, please review!**


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